Thoughts, poems, prayers, sermons, and more from the Rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

An Advent Thought...

"There is no time like the Christmas season—a season of anticipation and joy as we await the birth of the Word of God—when commercial pressures are stronger and threaten our discipleship more. The culture does its utmost to shift us from simple celebration to a frenzy of spending by telling us blatantly or subliminally that unless we buy, our lives will be diminished. When Christmas is over, if we have succumbed to these pressures, many of us find ourselves feeling "down," descending into a January gloom that leaves us asking how we will pay for what we have spent, and wondering if it was all worth it.

Sometimes prayer becomes difficult, daily reflection times yield no insights, and our faith is at low ebb. A choice lies before us; we can go on with our journey in an attitude of faithful perseverance or be sidetracked by yet more assaults on our reason and our purses. The New Year bargain sales, too good to miss, are even more enticing when we see that there is nothing to pay for fifteen months. Bookstores have shelf after shelf of self-help books promoting success in relationships, jobs, finance, and fulfillment. Therapies offer to fix our psyche, but a healthier way to move through the darkness also lies before us. An honest reading of Scripture reveals a very different per­spective of the human journey."